Superman wrote:I think Great America has really been moving towards the mindset of quality over quantity, with the two examples of Goliath and X-Flight (though the argument could be made that this is not true because of things like igNight). I don't think they would just throw a couple of decent coasters and a few flats in there. As a business, they want to bring in more guests and I don't think what you described would bring in enough guests to cover the expenses of the expansion. However, I think putting in a giga coaster would. Heck, they might put in something we've never seen before. In any case, if they do decide to make some type of expansion similar to this, it will have to be big and exciting in order to make a profit.
SFGAm is not and will not be a destination park. There is no competition in the immediate area and they have no land to make the park big enough for people to travel great distances to visit. The fact is that no new ride, be it a massive one or a modest one, will bring in a large number of people past it's opening year. Their attendance will never be able to improve much and as long as they keep things fresh it will not go down since people have no where else to turn to. That being said, I don't think that's a bad thing really. I enjoy the shorter lines our park has compared to CP where their more popular rides often hit 3 hours of wait time.
Superman wrote:I think Great America has really been moving towards the mindset of quality over quantity, with the two examples of Goliath and X-Flight (though the argument could be made that this is not true because of things like igNight). I don't think they would just throw a couple of decent coasters and a few flats in there. As a business, they want to bring in more guests and I don't think what you described would bring in enough guests to cover the expenses of the expansion. However, I think putting in a giga coaster would. Heck, they might put in something we've never seen before. In any case, if they do decide to make some type of expansion similar to this, it will have to be big and exciting in order to make a profit.
SFGAm is not and will not be a destination park. There is no competition in the immediate area and they have no land to make the park big enough for people to travel great distances to visit. The fact is that no new ride, be it a massive one or a modest one, will bring in a large number of people past it's opening year. Their attendance will never be able to improve much and as long as they keep things fresh it will not go down since people have no where else to turn to. That being said, I don't think that's a bad thing really. I enjoy the shorter lines our park has compared to CP where their more popular rides often hit 3 hours of wait time.
Although you definitely make a great point, I don't think you; me; or anyone who isn't an employee for six flags can say what their plan is. Six flags may be perfectly happy keeping Great America at the same income level forever, but if they wanted to increase their profits in a significant way they would have to open a new park, or expand an existing park. The three parks six flags have the greatest chance of turning into a destination are SFGADV, SFMM, and of course SFGAM. With the addition of two great coasters in three years, I think the signs point that they may be doing this with SFGAM. I can see why this is absolutely ridiculous, but I can also see the potential Great America has. One thing Great America has going for it over CP is the fact that it's by Chicago. If you're visiting Chicago you might very well make the drive to Gurnee, but how many peopole a year visit Sandusky for reasons other than CP? Although my thoughts could very well have nothing to them, I don't think anyone can rule out the possibility of SFGAM making a play on CP.
"Everyone, listen to me! These jerks killed Superboy. They've tried to kill us. Now they say they're going to tear this city apart. I say... like hell."
Yeah, it's really hard to say. They are building the park up a bit more, but I worry about what they will be taking out since the park has no room for expansion. If they keep taking out flats for coasters the park will soon lose it's appeal to everyone but the thrill seekers. I just can't see this park becoming significantly more profitable given their land situation. This goes double for competing with CP. There is not a chance that this park will be more than a blip on CP's radar because there is just no room for them to have a collection like CP. However, I have no experience in business so I could also be way off base.
I think eventually they'll get a giga most likely done by B&M but Intamin could also be a good company to use. But first they need to get a Premier Rides launch coaster before anything else because they need it badly. Yes there is V2 but that's not even full circuit. So I predict Premier Rides launch coaster in 2016 and then a B&M or Intamin giga for 2019/2020.
A premier rides dark coaster (example: Revenge of the Mummy) would be an awesome edition, assuming they don't go for cheap like they did with TDK. Otherwise, an outdoor Intamin full circuit launch like Maverick would be a nice edition (Demon footprint and theming could be re-purposed). I'd prefer an Intamin Giga but only because they've shown more success in that genre.
sfgam-fan wrote:A premier rides dark coaster (example: Revenge of the Mummy) would be an awesome edition, assuming they don't go for cheap like they did with TDK. Otherwise, an outdoor Intamin full circuit launch like Maverick would be a nice edition (Demon footprint and theming could be re-purposed). I'd prefer an Intamin Giga but only because they've shown more success in that genre.
I'd rather they scrap Dark Knight and build a good coaster in that building.
I don't think we will see anything from Intamin anytime soon, if ever again, with their recent reliability/design issues. Cedar Fair appears to have given up on them too after the water ride accident at Cedar Point last year (and they had to reprofile part of Maverick early on). Holiday World just had to dismantle their giant Intamin water ride after only a few years due to reliability problems. The Zacspin at Magic Mountain has not been well-received. Skyrush at Hershey Park had horrible restraints that had to be altered right away but still get complaints. I-305 had to be trimmed then reprofiled and change its restraints. Falcon's Fury is still not open at Busch Gardens Tampa after problems with parts breaking during testing.
They just aren't very good investments for parks even though they (generally) provide high thrills. B&M has been getting a lot more business lately due partly to this. I would not mind a Mack or Premier full-circuit launched ride for our park. Or, maybe even a different type of B&M launch coaster now that they are building Thunderbird at HW. A dark ride unlike BTDK would be great.
ilrider wrote:I don't think we will see anything from Intamin anytime soon, if ever again, with their recent reliability/design issues. Cedar Fair appears to have given up on them too after the water ride accident at Cedar Point last year (and they had to reprofile part of Maverick early on). Holiday World just had to dismantle their giant Intamin water ride after only a few years due to reliability problems. The Zacspin at Magic Mountain has not been well-received. Skyrush at Hershey Park had horrible restraints that had to be altered right away but still get complaints. I-305 had to be trimmed then reprofiled and change its restraints. Falcon's Fury is still not open at Busch Gardens Tampa after problems with parts breaking during testing.
They just aren't very good investments for parks even though they (generally) provide high thrills. B&M has been getting a lot more business lately due partly to this. I would not mind a Mack or Premier full-circuit launched ride for our park. Or, maybe even a different type of B&M launch coaster now that they are building Thunderbird at HW. A dark ride unlike BTDK would be great.
Six Flags used Intamin for Lex Luther DOD and Zoomanjaro
You guys will get a kick out of this one. My friends want to see a 300 foot roller coaster that goes over I-94. I asked them one question and that was where would the supports go. They said they said the supports could be built in the middle of I-94.
Tardis1972 wrote:You guys will get a kick out of this one. My friends want to see a 300 foot roller coaster that goes over I-94. I asked them one question and that was where would the supports go. They said they said the supports could be built in the middle of I-94.
ilrider wrote:I would not mind a Mack or Premier full-circuit launched ride for our park. Or, maybe even a different type of B&M launch coaster now that they are building Thunderbird at HW. A dark ride unlike BTDK would be great.
MACK built Dark Knight and Buccaneer Battle, and a lot of their installations are junior coasters. So I veto MACK for our next ride Premier's done some good work though.
ilrider wrote:I don't think we will see anything from Intamin anytime soon, if ever again, with their recent reliability/design issues. Cedar Fair appears to have given up on them too after the water ride accident at Cedar Point last year (and they had to reprofile part of Maverick early on). Holiday World just had to dismantle their giant Intamin water ride after only a few years due to reliability problems. The Zacspin at Magic Mountain has not been well-received. Skyrush at Hershey Park had horrible restraints that had to be altered right away but still get complaints. I-305 had to be trimmed then reprofiled and change its restraints. Falcon's Fury is still not open at Busch Gardens Tampa after problems with parts breaking during testing.
They just aren't very good investments for parks even though they (generally) provide high thrills. B&M has been getting a lot more business lately due partly to this. I would not mind a Mack or Premier full-circuit launched ride for our park. Or, maybe even a different type of B&M launch coaster now that they are building Thunderbird at HW. A dark ride unlike BTDK would be great.
Six Flags used Intamin for Lex Luther DOD and Zoomanjaro
Yeah, I know, and those have been good rides from the sound of it, but we already have our Intamin drop tower. That's why I said our park in particular might stay away from Intamin. V2 has had some substantial downtime while waiting for parts in the past, and the holding brake is no longer in use like it should be
^Regarding Mack, I realize they have designed two of our "less than popular" rides (BB must go!), they also have made amazing launch coasters, like Blue Fire. That is what I would be okay with from them, or from Premier, though Premier's rides, like Mr. Freeze, have sometimes had a lot of downtime. I just want a reliable and thrilling installation. Spoiled by the reliability of our B&Ms I guess.
Last edited by ilrider on July 27th, 2014, 4:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.
^ Lex Luthor is good. Zumanjaro has been, and likely always will be a total disaster, but that is not Intamin's fault. That is Six Flags' fault for not doing their homework and making sure New Jersey was okay with Zumanjaro and Kingda Ka running at the same time before they built the damned thing
DejaVu2001 wrote:^ Lex Luthor is good. Zumanjaro has been, and likely always will be a total disaster, but that is not Intamin's fault. That is Six Flags' fault for not doing their homework and making sure New Jersey was okay with Zumanjaro and Kingda Ka running at the same time before they built the damned thing
Yes, I did read about that screwy situation in NJ!
ilrider wrote:I don't think we will see anything from Intamin anytime soon, if ever again, with their recent reliability/design issues. Cedar Fair appears to have given up on them too after the water ride accident at Cedar Point last year (and they had to reprofile part of Maverick early on). Holiday World just had to dismantle their giant Intamin water ride after only a few years due to reliability problems. The Zacspin at Magic Mountain has not been well-received. Skyrush at Hershey Park had horrible restraints that had to be altered right away but still get complaints. I-305 had to be trimmed then reprofiled and change its restraints. Falcon's Fury is still not open at Busch Gardens Tampa after problems with parts breaking during testing.
They just aren't very good investments for parks even though they (generally) provide high thrills. B&M has been getting a lot more business lately due partly to this. I would not mind a Mack or Premier full-circuit launched ride for our park. Or, maybe even a different type of B&M launch coaster now that they are building Thunderbird at HW. A dark ride unlike BTDK would be great.
Six Flags used Intamin for Lex Luther DOD and Zoomanjaro
Yeah, I know, and those have been good rides from the sound of it, but we already have our Intamin drop tower. That's why I said our park in particular might stay away from Intamin. V2 has had some substantial downtime while waiting for parts in the past, and the holding brake is no longer in use like it should be
^Regarding Mack, I realize they have designed two of our "less than popular" rides (BB must go!), they also have made amazing launch coasters, like Blue Fire. That is what I would be okay with from them, or from Premier, though Premier's rides, like Mr. Freeze, have sometimes had a lot of downtime. I just want a reliable and thrilling installation. Spoiled by the reliability of our B&Ms I guess.
I agree. I would much rather have a Mack coaster than Premier. It seems like most Premier coasters are either gimmicky, rough or riddled With maintenance problems. Mack on the other hand has a couple solid looking coasters, Blue Fire and Helix being the main two. A Mack launched coaster with 7+ inversions would be a great addition to our park and kills two birds with one stone.
Any launch coaster will be perfect for our next coaster. I don't care if it's from B&M, Intamin, Mack, or Premier...our park is extremely lacking in a good launch coaster. Not saying V2 is bad, but a launch coaster is the most important type coaster that our park needs to get at the moment.
I would love to see a coaster like flight of fear. From google earth it looks like it may be able to fit in the pictorium area.
"Everyone, listen to me! These jerks killed Superboy. They've tried to kill us. Now they say they're going to tear this city apart. I say... like hell."
Tardis1972 wrote:My only question is where could a launch coaster be built.
Employee Parking Lot next to Eagle Tent? Either that or above/around Roaring Rapids.
I was thinking the go karts spot might be good spot for launch coaster, but I don't know if it's big enough. It probably isn't big enough for launch coaster.
ilrider wrote:I don't think we will see anything from Intamin anytime soon, if ever again, with their recent reliability/design issues. Cedar Fair appears to have given up on them too after the water ride accident at Cedar Point last year (and they had to reprofile part of Maverick early on)
Are you talking about the heart line roll? If anyone was wondering, Maverick at CP had an intense heart line roll after the launch check it out here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guTTVVco1NA The reason it was removed was because riders would have been able to feel the G forces making it a bit uncomfortable. The original computer design did not calculate the heart line roll G forces. You see this is what erks me. I absolutely loved Maverick but Intamin hasn't been super reliable as far as their last few coasters. I still really want a Blitz coaster in the Mardi Gras area. Small footprint, can go all over the area, no restrictions. I just really think Mardi Gras needs a coaster and a Blitz coaster whether it be Intamin or Mack would really make me a happy camper. The experience is one of a kind and that type of coaster would be awesome! We wouldn't even need Gurnee to clear it!
Favorite Coasters I've Ridden: Steel:1.Maverick2.Steel Vengeance3.X24.StormChaser5.TwistedColossus Wood:1.The Voyage2.Renegade3.MysticTimbers4.TheLegend5.The Beast Great America:1.Maxx Force2.Goliath3.Raging Bull4.Batman: The Ride5.X-Flight
^Yep, that is what I was referring to. I would love a coaster like that too. I just worry Intamin coasters are falling out of favor with U.S. parks due to their problems. The Mack rides appear to be not nearly as intense as Intamin's, but still look like awesome rides.
ilrider wrote:^Yep, that is what I was referring to. I would love a coaster like that too. I just worry Intamin coasters are falling out of favor with U.S. parks due to their problems. The Mack rides appear to be not nearly as intense as Intamin's, but still look like awesome rides.
That's the problem! The intense is what makes those rides so good
Favorite Coasters I've Ridden: Steel:1.Maverick2.Steel Vengeance3.X24.StormChaser5.TwistedColossus Wood:1.The Voyage2.Renegade3.MysticTimbers4.TheLegend5.The Beast Great America:1.Maxx Force2.Goliath3.Raging Bull4.Batman: The Ride5.X-Flight
Premier's done some good work though.
